


The In-Between Time

by SherlockDreadsNaught



Category: Sherlock (TV), johnlock - Fandom
Genre: John-centric, M/M, Mary Morstan's past, Past Mary Morstan/John Watson, Sherlock Series 3 Spoilers, Sherlock-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-18
Updated: 2014-03-18
Packaged: 2018-01-13 22:13:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1242502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockDreadsNaught/pseuds/SherlockDreadsNaught
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Sherlock got out of the hospital the second time, what exactly went on?  Did Sherlock and John look at the jump drive Mary gave to them?  If so, what's the plan now?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The In-Between Time

**Author's Note:**

> We're dealing with a few months that Moffat and Gatiss simply skipped over. Here's my idea of what could have happened. This first chapter took on a bit of a life of its own. Please let me know if you think it's worth continuing! Ta!

"You should be resting!"

In front of the hearth, Sherlock Holmes was pacing, his hands steepled under his chin, his eyes unfocused.  The words somehow sliced through his self-imposed fog and he turned to face the speaker.  "I'm fine, DOCTOR Watson!"  He glanced at his desk, eyes alighting on a jump drive bearing the initials A.G.R.A.  "John....."  He picked up the device and held it between thumb and index finger.  "I know what you have said but I feel it is to our advantage to examine the contents."

John Watson heaved a sigh and put down the morning paper he had been attempting to read.  Though it was only mid-morning, he felt exhausted because sleep eluded him of late.  Sherlock getting shot had been worrying enough, but then he ended up back in the hospital needing another surgery to stop the internal bleeding.  The health issues of the man he considered his best friend were no small matter, but then there was the damning problem caused by the fact that his wife had been the one to shoot Sherlock, AND she had apparently lied to him about every single thing since the very day they met.  Memories of the confession when she didn't realize he was present and of the confrontation right there in the living room just kept playing out repeatedly in his mind, especially at night.  Mary had produced the jump drive and said everything about her past was on it, and now Sherlock was turning on his laptop, jump drive in hand, fully intending to look at it.  "You're going to do it, aren't you? Even though I said I would not and did not want to..."

"I suspect I have already spoken of some of what is on here, how 'Mary' took on a deceased woman's name five years ago, for one thing."  He broke eye contact with John long enough to plug the drive into the USB port of his laptop.  "If there is more, John, I feel we need to know, so that we're not going into anything blind."

"Look, Sherlock, I don't know if you can ever understand this but...I feel miserable enough as it is knowing what I already know."  John's voice was low and controlled.  "Do I want to find out if there's more? More lies? More deceit?  At this point I don't even want to KNOW what I already KNOW!"

Sherlock gave the slightest nod of his head at John's words.  "I understand..."

"Do you? Do you really?"  John tossed the newspaper aside and stood up, angrily shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.  "God in heaven, Sherlock, the woman I am MARRIED to, who is carrying MY CHILD, shot you at almost point-blank range...I can't even, I can't even....I can't even be in the same house with her at the moment because I am so fed up, pissed off and betrayed. And YOU want ME to learn MORE about her?"

Sherlock removed his hands from the laptop's keyboard and again steepled them under his chin, averting his gaze from John's face, seemingly thinking of something to say. Several times he pursed his lips, but no words came, instead a look of sadness crossed his handsome features.  "I have no words, John, I know of nothing that I could possibly say to help you now.  Just know that I meant what I said at your wedding--I will always be here for you."

"Oh...yes...NOW!" John spat the words out.  "NOW!!  Two years, Sherlock, two of the worst, two of the longest, two of the darkest years of my life..."

"Are we discussing this again?"

"You damned well better believe we're discussing it. What a bloody coincidence that you showed up the very night I was going to propose to Mary. Did you know then? Hmm? Did you?  You could have said something, even if it was just suspicions that you had from 'observing' her. You could have bloody said SOMETHING to me then!"

"And would you have listened to me, John?"  Sherlock rose from his seat to face the shorter man.  "If I had said to you that I had deduced she was lying to you about something, would you have listened to me?"  To Sherlock's frustration, he suddenly felt tears forming so he turned abruptly and sat down again, wincing at the pain the sudden movement provoked.  "I only wanted you to be happy, John, it was your chance for that normal life everyone wants, that everyone seems to long for.  Did I see something was amiss with Mary Morstan? Yes, I did, but I also saw that she was propping you up, John, and that she had been doing so in my absence. Had I said anything to you that night or soon after, had you been speaking to me, I am uncertain as to how you would have taken it.  My return angered you, I did not wish to add fuel to that."

"How can you be so calm, Sherlock? Seriously, how?" John strode across the room until he was standing by the consulting detective. 

"Practice, John, I've had alot of practice."

For a moment John just stood staring at Sherlock, then he grabbed the chair from his side of the desk and dragged it over so he could sit beside him.  "I'm sorry...I uhhh...didn't realize I still had so much anger in me.  If you had your suspicions, Sherlock, if you of all people saw something in her, I am surprised you didn't let on, that you didn't tell me. Me, Sherlock, ME, not anyone else, just ME."

"You would have taken it all wrong,"  Sherlock said in such a quiet tone that John barely made out the words.

"I would have taken it all wrong? From you? You know I trust your observations. How would I have taken it wrong?"

Sherlock pondered his reply several moments, pursing his lips a few times.  "I was just back from...my exile...my vacation as you call it.  We hadn't seen each other in two years.  You would have thought that I was...that I was jealous."

 


End file.
